Toy airplane



Sept. 7, 1937. T. SHACKELFORD 2,

' TOY AIRPLANE Filed Juiy 10, 1936 INVENTOR Zy/w ZShac/relf'ord BY Q I Ia ,,%,.,M

ATTORNEYS Patented Sept. 7, 1937 UNITED STATES PATENT orries -1 Claim.

This invention relates to toy airplane constructions.

More particularly the invention relates to a toy airplane which may bemanufactured at an exceedingly small cost while still providing acon-:struction of unusual stability in flight and exce tionally realistic inappearance.

Toy airplanes of the class to which this invention is directed, areusually sold as novelties to children at -a price of one cent orthereabouts, with the consequence that the materials 'used in themanufacture and assembly of the parts must be very inexpensive while atthe same time to be acceptable to this trade, the article must be of f adecorative-and realistic appearance and capable of sustained soaring andrepeated flights without damage to its construction, in the hands ofinexperienced children.

The construction embodying the present invention fulfills theserequirements and involves substantially a minimum number of parts, eachof extreme simplicity, and of light weight, yet yieldable and notfragile.

Various further and more specific objects, features and advantages willclearly appear from the detailed description given below taken inconnection with the accompanying drawing which forms a part of thisspecification and illustrates merely by way of example preferred formsof the invention.

The invention consists in such novel features, arrangements andcombinations of parts as may be shown and described in connection withthe constructions herein disclosed.

In the drawing, Fig. 1 is a perspective View of an assembled toyairplane embodying my invention in one of its forms.

Fig. 2 illustrates one of the members of the construction of Fig. 1,designed to simulate landing gear;

Figs. 3 and 4 illustrate alternative embodiments of one of the membersof Fig. 1; and

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of a further alternative embodiment of thesimulated landing gear construction and means for securing the same tothe body or fuselage of the airplane.

As shown in Fig. 1, the construction may comprise a body or fuselageportion I preferably comprising a rod of balsa wood or other lightweight material shaped in general conformity to the outlines of aconventional airplane fuselage. A wing member I I may be removablysecured to the fuselage member as by a rubber band or cord, asillustrated in Fig. 1. Tail pieces or rudders as at 12 and I3 may beremovably secured to the rear end of the fuselage member. These membersmay be secured, for example, by inserting the same within longitudinallyextending saw cuts, "formed as' illu'stratedfin the end of the member,Ill. To enhance the-attractiveness of the device, the members Ill to [3inclusive, prior to assembly, may be each distinctively colored as byinserting the members individually in bathsof dy'eor other coloringmaterial. All of these members are preferably formed of balsa woodorother light weight strong wood, 'or other substance, cut into stripsasthin as possible and shaped substantially as shown.

With inexpensive constructions -of this class as heretoforemarketedfl'the forward end of thede Y vice has a tendency to rise toohigh for 1 sustained flight by reason of lack of weight in the forwardportions. Attempts have been made toremedy this action by inserting atack or other small weight in the forward end of the fuselage member atthe position shown in Fig. 1 to give added weight at this point, butthis expedient alone, has not been entirely satisfactory. In theconstruction shown, I have provided in addition, at l an additionalmember of very inexpensive form to simulate landing gear, and at thesame time providing a slight additional weight at the forward end of theplane and a slight added air resistance to flight at a point beneath theforward end of the fuselage. Such added resistance at this point aids inachieving greater stability of the device in flight.

The member [5 as shown in Fig. 2, may be formed of light weight sheetmaterial such as thin cardboard or pasteboard and readily stamped withan outline, such as when the device is assembled, this member will givethe appearance of streamlined wheels or other landing gear. The memberI5 may include a middle or body portion I'l, adapted to extend in agenerally horizontal plane and to be received and removably embracedwithin a saw cut slot l6 extending transversely through the forward endof the fuselage member, as shown in. Fig. 1, or alternatively, as shownat Ilia in Fig. 3. Or if preferred, as shown in Fig. 4, a pair of sawcuts I60 may be provided as at IBb, within which the portion I! may beremovably inserted. Or the member l5 may be removably attached to thelower forward end of the fuselage member by means of a rubber band orcord similar to the attachment of member II by means of a rubber band orcord. The member 15 may have a pair of end portions as at H! and I9,each having the outline of the conventional form of landing gear desiredto be represented, as indicated for example at 20. These end portionsmay be bent downwardly so as to extend in generally vertical planessubstantially parallel to the direction of flight. To facilitate thisbending down of the ends l8 and I9 by the customer, the member I5 may becreased as at [801. by the manufacturer. In case the bent-down ends IBand I9 have a tendency to spread apart slightly, i. e. to positions at aslight angle to the vertical, this will not detract from the realisticappearance, but rather Will tend to give the landing gear a bracedappearance.

In Fig. 5 I have illustrated a modified form of construction in which amember 2| of thin light weight sheet metal may be provided to give arepresentation of landing gear. This member may comprise a substantiallyhorizontally extending middle portion 22 formed with a plurality ofstruck-up projections as at 23 having their upper ends pointed andturned inwardly as shown, for gripping the fuselage member Ill. Theouter ends of the member 2! may be bent downwardly as at 24, the endsbeing cut with an outline as at 25 representative of Wheels or otherlanding gear as desired.

With all of the above described embodiments of the invention, the memberrepresenting the landing gear is of such construction and is so securedto the fuselage member that the device will not be damaged even byrepeated and long use in inexperienced hands. That is, the landing gearmember will yield or its connection to the fuselage member will readilyyield when the device falls to the earth, so that none of the parts maybe easily broken with normal use of the device. Thus it will be notedthat I have provided a simple means for giving the slight additionalweight to the forward end of the fuselage and added resistance at apoint beneath the forward end for increasing the stability of flight,but at the same time increasing the realistic appearance at an almostnegligible cost.

While the invention has been described in detail with respect toparticular preferred examples, it will be understood by those skilled inthe art after understanding the invention, that various changes andfurther modifications may be made without departing from the spirit andscope of the invention, and it is intended therefore in the appendedclaim to cover all such changes and modifications.

What is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

A toy airplane construction comprising a rod of light weight wood shapedto represent a fuselage, wing and tail pieces secured thereto, and meansrepresentative of landing gear comprising an integral piece of pliablesheet material comprising cardboard or the like, and having itsmidportion normally in substantially a horizontal plane, an open endedsaw cut extending transversely through said rod adjacent the forward endthereof, forming a slot for removably receiving and yieldably clampingsaid portion to said rod, the two ends of said piece of sheet materialbeing bent downwardly for extending in generally vertical planessubstantially parallel to the direction of flight, the outline of saidends simulating the outline of landing gear as viewed in a direction atright angles to the direction of flight.

LYNE T. SHACKELFORD.

